Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe

The Culture Heptagon: How Leaders Cultivate Strong School Cultures with Lekha Sharma, Mind the Gap, Ep.68 (S4,E5)

Jan 3, 2024

Lekha Sharma, School Improvement Lead for the Avanti Schools Trust, joins Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner on Mind The Gap. They explore building a positive school culture, its connection to curriculum, and the role of small interactions. The episode also discusses transforming negative cultures, importance of trust-building, and upcoming world education summit.

50:27

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Episode guests

Lekha Sharma

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Quick takeaways

Creating a positive school culture requires understanding and co-constructing the culture with teachers and staff, focusing on competencies and establishing trust based on demonstrated competence and reliability.

Recognizing and respecting the unique mini cultures within different teams and departments is crucial for a positive and supportive school environment, fostering a sense of belonging and purpose among all teams.

Deep dives

Developing a Positive School Culture

Creating a positive school culture requires understanding and co-constructing the culture with teachers and staff. It's important for leaders to listen to their team, have one-on-one conversations, and gain a deeper understanding of the existing culture before attempting to make changes. Cultivating a shared sense of purpose and vision among teams is essential to build trust and foster a positive culture. Leaders should focus on competencies and ensure that they have domain-specific knowledge and expertise in order to establish trust with their teachers. Trust is not blind; it should be based on demonstrated competence and reliability.

Creating a Culture of Psychological Safety in Schools

03:30

Building a Strong School Culture Through Small Interactions

03:19

Introduction

4min

Exploring Different Types of Culture in Education

4min

The Importance of School Culture in Curriculum

12min

Building a Strong School Culture Through Small Interactions

3min

Transforming School Culture

25min

Wrapping Up the Importance of Building Trust and Mentioning the World Education Summit

3min

On this episode of Mind The Gap, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner are joined by special guest Lekha Sharma. The trio discusses how to build a school culture, and Lekha talks about how she believes a positive school culture is a prerequisite for great curriculum and pedagogy.

Lekha Sharma is a School Improvement Lead for the Avanti Schools Trust, leading on curriculum and assessment and has over ten years of experience teaching and leading in schools in a range of contexts. She is the author of the recently published book Building Culture: A handbook to harnessing human nature to create strong school teams. Follow Lekha on Twitter @teacherfeature2

Tom Sherrington has worked in schools as a teacher and leader for 30 years and is now a consultant specialising in teacher development and curriculum & assessment planning. He regularly contributes to conferences and CPD sessions locally and nationally and is busy working in schools and colleges across the UK and around the world. Follow Tom on Twitter ⁠⁠@teacherhead⁠⁠

Emma Turner joined Discovery Schools Academy Trust as the Research and CPD lead after 20 years in primary teaching. She founded ‘NewEd – Joyful CPD for early-career teachers,’ a not-for-profit approach to CPD to encourage positivity amongst the profession and help retain teachers in post. Follow Emma on Twitter ⁠⁠@emma_turner75⁠⁠.

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